Back in the spring, I had the idea that I’d expand on my original blog post about how to get started in rock wrapping and turn it into a leaflet or booklet. That idea eventually grew and expanded into a 54-page full-colour e-book that covered not just rock wrapping techniques and tutorials, but also supplies you’ll need for rock wrapping, materials you can use to wrap rocks, and three step-by-step projects to illustrate common rock wrapping patterns and designs. But I know folks like video tutorials of complicated techniques, and sometimes it is easier to show than tell, so I also added a video demonstration of each project that’s accessible only through the How to Wrap Rocks book.
I bundled all that up and put it for sale on Etsy. I loved the process of creating the content, from the photographs to the text explanations of each step and even the videos. And I figured I’d get maybe 10 or 20 sales of the PDF and I’d be happy with my return on investment, since creating the PDF itself was a creative act that I was proud of. Imagine my surprise and delight when I sold 30 copies the very first week! And then it continued to sell, and sell, and sell. It’s been available since the beginning of June, and I’m likely to hit 200 sales of the PDF download by the end of September. WOW!
Almost right away, folks were saying they would prefer a hard copy book version. I even got my only less-than-5-star review on Etsy because the person said they would have preferred a physical book. So through the summer, I looked at options. Early research brought me to vanity publishers, but I did not want to invest huge sums of up-front costs, and many reviews cautioned against this route. Eventually I figured out the difference between publishing and printing, and realized that printing the books and distributing them myself was the path I wanted to follow. Having figured that out (which itself took a month of research) I started looking into book printing services.
I started with Blurb Books because as a photographer I’ve used them in the past and have been happy with their quality, and because I know they link the Canadian and US versions of their bookstore. Blurb does have paths that link you with the ability to publish to Amazon, but I’m still cool on doing business with any US-based company right now (“elbows up!”) and doing business with that company in particular. I realize I’m choosing principles over potential profit, but I’m privileged enough to be able to do that. I did search for Canadian printers, but couldn’t find one where the unit cost made any sense for me to be able to price each unit for a reasonable profit on my end. So I chose to publish directly to the Blurb bookstore.
I set to work converting my PDF digital download to an actual book using their BookWright software. It was, um, not an easy journey. Maybe I never unlocked the key to successfully using their interface, but I found it exasperating to use, especially in how limiting the cover design options were. But after a few days of tinkering and sighing heavily and grinding my molars a little bit, I finally had a book design that I was happy with. I uploaded it to Blurb and hit the Blurb.ca dashboard to order a proof copy so I could check the quality before I released the book to the world. And I nearly wept when I saw the cost of shipping was almost the same as the cost of the book itself.
Eventually, I sucked it up and ordered 5 copies for myself, using a timely discount code. I also learned that the shipping is way less for Americans buying on Blurb.com. I think I figured that out on the exact same day that Etsy sent out a notification that they were halting shipping via Canada Post to the USA over the current tariff issues, effectively halting my plan to self-fulfil orders by shipping to customers myself for US buyers. But making a bulk order and fulfilling orders myself for buyers outside the US was much more cost effective.
So I basically have three sales paths: one for US customers (buy directly from Blurb.com) and one for the rest of the world including Canada (buy through Etsy.) And folks can still buy the PDF digital e-Book through Etsy for immediate download, if they want to print it at home or view it on any device. Confusion? How could anything possibly go wrong??? Sigh. I put a lot of thought into making the two versions distinct in their Etsy listings.
Edited to add: five whole days after I published this blog post, Canada Post went on strike. Currently, they’re my only avenue for delivery, though I do understand I can start doing some research into alternative delivery systems. But until that time, I’ve delisted the paperback book version on Etsy. If you’re really keen to get one and you live outside the USA, email me and I’ll see what I can figure out. But the PDF remains available!
The good news is that when my proof copies finally arrived, I was delighted with the quality. I can’t believe I wrote an actual book that I can hold in my hands. And even moreso, I wrote a book that other people genuinely seem to appreciate!
Let me tell you, though, Blurb is not nearly as user-friendly for sellers as Etsy is. Etsy does have its share of issues, but they ping me immediately when a sale happens and they keep fabulous statistics so you can really understand your audience and your sales metrics. I need to visit the Blurb dashboard to see if a sale has been made, and that’s all the info you get – just whether a sale has been made. Etsy pays out weekly directly to my bank account, whereas Blurb pays out the month after a sale has been completed, and into my PayPal account. And they have a threshold you need to meet, otherwise your payout rolls over into the next month. I am really overall unimpressed with working with Blurb, even though the book quality is good. But given the current economic situation with tariffs in the USA, and the US being such an important market, they seem to be the best way forward for now.
I’ve certainly taken a convoluted path to having a version of the book for everyone, but it seems to be working out okay. And I am looking forward to doing some in-person sales of the book and rock-wrapping kits at local markets and rock wrapping workshops in the coming year.
Oh yes, did I mention rock wrapping kits? Stay tuned, that’s my next adventure!